They see that war is a state of almost pure sin with its goals of hatred and destruction. They know how war fosters alienation, leads inevitably to nihilism, and is a turning away from the sanctity and preservation of life.

Our passivity has resulted, however, in much more than imperial adventurism and a permanent underclass. A slow-motion coup by a corporate state has cemented into place a neofeudalism in which there are only masters and serfs.

Mantis isn't a 'drone'. It's a robotic aircraft. It's among the first of a new breed of armed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that can take off, fly, plot courses and even acquire targets for itself, and the UK is at the forefront of this new tech...

In its efforts to keep Congress funding huge military budgets in the 1980s, the Reagan administration exaggerated the threat from the Soviet Union's military projects, newly published documents show. [The same for "terrorism" today? Nah.]

White House officials confirmed last week that the president, who won the Nobel peace prize last year, is considering the deployment of a new class of hypersonic guided missiles that can reach their targets at speeds of Mach 5 — about 3,600mph.

. . .the U.S. has already spent more than $6 billion and is about to authorize more money, the Afghan police still face many of the same problems. Those include lack of leadership, low pay, corruption, insufficient training and a low retention rate.

Venezuela is preparing to welcome Vladimir Putin, who will implement several agreements. Washington moves its pieces to recover military domination in the region. U.S. military presence has been increasing alarmingly in the hemisphere since 2006.

Laughing when they shoot, after they shoot, in viewing the dead and near dead, and even laughing as they drive over the bodies in a hurry to record mission success. For the most part, this isn’t nervous laughter; instead, it is the laughter of thugs.

The day is coming, however, when those chuckles will be forever silenced: the cracks in the edifice are already appearing, in spite of the Obamaites’ strenuous efforts to cover them up with sealing wax, government spending, and vulgar political grand

It's estimated there are 25,000 registered security contractors in Afghanistan. The increase in private security contractors is part of a surge in the total number of contractors, with more than 100,000 in Afghanistan.

The likelihood that U.S. money is finding its way to the enemy as well as lining officials' pockets . . . is "one of the many very important things that came to light" during last fall's White House strategy review, an administration official said.

WASHINGTON — The Navy says that three dogs died and dozens more were in poor health after being neglected by a private security contractor in Chicago that had been hired to train the dogs to detect explosives.

DOD agreed to pay the megacontractor KBR $5 million a year to repair tactical vehicles, at Joint Base Balad, a large airfield and supply center north of Baghdad. What the military got was as many as 144 civilian mechanics, each doing as little as 43

The Pentagon and US intelligence agencies have fielded covert mercenary networks in Afghanistan, Pakistan (AKA "Afpak"), and Iraq whose mission is to murder tribal militants and nationalists opposing Western occupation.

In another twist to the ongoing saga to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers, United Aircraft Corp. of Russia is planning to bid on the $40 billion contract, according to a person familiar with its plans. United Aircraft,

Campaign Against Militarism – an Icelandic group originally founded in opposition to the NATO base – is strongly against the idea. They point out that the comany’s background is shrouded in mystery, and that they amount to a mercenary group.

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight - America has spent more than $6 billion since 2002 in an effort to create an effective Afghan police force, buying weapons and hiring defense contractors to train the recruits—but the program has been a disaster

Pentagon official alleged to have set up Jason Bourne-style team to help track and kill Taliban. The effort was initially aimed at gathering political and cultural information about the region to aid the US military campaign.

Federal auditors on Monday put a stop to Army plans to award a $1 billion training program for Afghan police officers to the company formerly known as Blackwater, concluding that other companies were unfairly excluded from bidding on the job.

Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions — involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery —

The projected cost of Lockheed Martin’s new Joint Strike Fighter has increased 60 to 90 percent in real terms since 2001 . . . Each F-35 had jumped to $80 million . . . from $50 million when Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract in 2001.

Niall Ferguson, echoes Diamond's warning: "Imperial collapse may come much more suddenly than many historians imagine. A combination of fiscal deficits and military overstretch suggests that the United States may be the next empire...

Western producers haven’t had access to oil fields in southern Iraq since 1972, when the country nationalized production including concessions owned by the companies now known as BP, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon.

The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan.
. . .
The Marines in Afghanistan, for example, reportedly run through some 800,000 gallons of fuel a day.